The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-01-27
BILL NYE
Gives His Version of the Story OF char-
Iotte Corday.

lOtUo
A constant reader of The Globe has writ
fen TO know something of Charlotte Corday' /
and as the letter has been referred to me,
fake great pleasure in stating briefly, ana
in glowing terms, what l am able to recali
of this eccentric young woman llfe'
Charlotte Corday was born on foreign
s+rond now known as Normandy, named IN |
honor OF the large speckled gray hoIse5
with thick, piano legs and gross necks, thae
come from there to engage in hauling peer
WAGONS in the land of the free and the nome
of the brave. .roo
Here Charlotte was born in the year l|So'
Like the record of Mr.. Spartacus, VINO, IN
speaking of his own experience, said that MS
early life ran quiet as the clear brook uJ
which he sported, the childhood OF Char-
lotte Corday was almost devoid OF mueresG,
being monotonous and unanimous, as a sen
made man said to me not long since, reler-
ring to the climate Of the SOUTH
She early turned her attention, however,
to the matter of patriotism, hoping 10 oD-
tain a livelihood in the patriot line some
day. She investigated the grievances Oh
France and gave her attention almost ex-
clusiyely to the invention of some way by
which to redress these grievances. Some
of them had not been redressed Tor celUu.
1ies and they ought to have been ashamed Oh
themselves.
According to all accounts, the grievances
of France were, at that time, in full dress
and short sleeves, ready for the ball 10
open.
open the ball.
She was a beautiful girl, with clear blue
ewes. placed at equal distances from tai
! LIGHT colored nose, which was pale when in
repose. but flushed delicately when she was
in tears. Her ripe and ruddy French mouth
opened and closed readily when she was eli,
gagged in conversation, and her white ana
beautiful shoulders, ever and anon, while she
talked bumped themselves like hired man
on his way to dinner
She had. also. trosses of hair of that pecul-
| lar Titan variety which is supposed to 90
4 with frecklcs and Il high temper Inc MS
torian saws that her hair looked black as u
divided over her fair forehead and hung
back across her shapely head, but at night,
as it was draped across the richly carved
frame of the au revoir where the fire hght
or the Norman Hose company could play
upon il. YOU would have thought it bright
and inilammatory red Charlotte Corday
was tall and graceful, and when her elastic
step and heroic feet followed the light meas
ure of some gay French tune at an October
/ pumpkin peeling, she could dance on Tor
hours without Earring the glass in tine win"
dows very much.
Her costume was simple and did not cost
a great deal. It consisted of a Normandy
cap made of cheese cloth in shape like tho
tail of a setting hen, and trimmed i'll front
with real French lace from the ten cent
counter. Her dress was all wool deialne
with a pin stripe in it and trimmed with tho
same. Her other dresses were different
Her stockings were tall and slender as seen
! hanging on the woman clothes line at Caen,
but her heart was gay and happy as tho day
was long.
: Charlotte Corday was one of a large
family whose descendants were called Cor
durov. They were the instigators of style
of road that has done more to shorter r"e
spinal column and jolt the jejunum o,>
chaos than any other line Of inven al,
throughout the United States
Charlotte Corday had ice "hicA a1
companied her in all her ramDles, and e.
said that it was very musical and SOM #t
first rate.
gee Her nareuts were Door. 30 she hau 'fH
few advantages, 10 viii be noticed "a Dnna
by the careful student who reads her @3.
to-day and notices where she has i'equ t,y
spelled cabbage with k. She 81 0ke F'.EHd
fuently, but was familiar with no olhe as
eign tongue whatever.
She took great interest in puhJic' 5G5
did not indorse the administrator. i.l
felt more especially bitter toward q gsuyla-
man named Marat, who was rather literary
in his habits and who also acted as a kind
of chairman of the National Central COM
mittee. 70 his other work he had also adj
ded the tedious and eXhausting tasi; Of pick
ing out people and indorsing them as sJita-
BILE persons to be beheaded. Being Jour-
nalist he had to write hard all the evening
to get the hook full of red hot political edi-
torial copy, and then when he should have
gone to bed and to rest, he had to take the
directory and pick out enough people for "a
mess the following day.
In this way Marat was kept very busy,
with the foreman on his heels all day and
the gIill0'ino on his heels all night, and
every mai was afraid to see the & Dauy
sheriff co. ing for fear he had q Subpoena
for him. Il vas 10 unusual thin" in hose
days for q trenchman to turn or tho gus
and go to bod, only to find his lirt collar
all bloody where the guillotine had Iuged
his hair just above his Adams apple IN tbe
morning.
/ Those wore indeed squirming times, as N.
de Lamartine, humorous writer of France,
has so truly said. No man felt perfectly
safe when he saw Marat at a sociabio or q
caucus II was impossible to tell whether
he had come to write the thing rp for his
paper or pick out some more people to be-
killed by the administration. They got 50
that Mara could induce any of them TO sub
scribe for his paper, and people advertised
in his columns for things they did not want
in order to show that they felt perfectly
friendly toward him.
1t was al this time that Charlotte Corday
called one morning at the apartments Of
Mr.. Marat With view to assassinating biIa
She sent IL word that young lady from
Caen das 10 see Mr.. Marat for tho pur-
pose of ptyns her subscription. SIC was
told that TIE editor was taking a BATH She
laughed cold, incredulous laugh, for sho
had seen & great many French jot rnalists,
and when one Of them sent word to her that
he was bathing she could ill reprcss low,
gurgling laugh.
Finally Sho was admitted to his private
apartments, where he was indeed in the
bath with an old table cloth thrc WIN over
him, engaged in writing scathing criticism
on the custom Of summer fallowiug Old
buckwheat lands aod co,ui,,or I,